Typewriting machine



E. L. HARMON.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED mums. 19x9.

1,404,201, 4 Patented Jan. 24,1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

EDWIN L. HARMON, OF GROTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CORONA TYPEWRITER COMPANY, INC., OF GROTON, NEW YORK, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed July 15,

To all 20 ham it may concern Be it known thatiI, EDWIN L. HARMoN, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Groton, county of Tompkins, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a full and clear specification.

The object of this invention is to pro vide simple means whereby a full operation of the ribbon-vibrator'is assured before the type strikes the ribbon, so as to thereby prevent the type beating the ribbon. to the platen. It has been the fault of many ribbon-vibrating mechanisms that through sluggishness or lost-motion the type will, when the machine is operated rapidly, get to the platen before the ribbon-vibrator has raised the ribbon entirely to the proper color, with the result that the type strikes upon the dividing line between the-two colors and thus causes the letters to -have a tinge of black along their upper ends when the mechanism is adjusted for printing red. It is the purpose of the present invention to provide against this parti-colored :printing.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a typewriting machine showing my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 isa similar view showing the parts in the position they assume when the type has struck the ribbon;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the universal-bar and the ribbon-vibrator-operating bail. p v w I' have illustrated my invention as applied to a machine of the Corona type, in which is employed an upright bail consisting of upright arms 5 pivotally mounted at 6 to the frame if used in'a segment-shift machine, as shown. The top-bar 7 of the ball is provided with a rearwardly-extending tappet 8 which is adapted to operate the usual escapement (not shown) and with an upwardly-extending lug 9 adapted to oper ate the ribbon-vibrator, designated generally by the numeral 10,'the type of vibrator shown "being similar to that covered by Petermann Patent No. 1,121,040, dated December 15, 1915, wherein the rearward movement of the top-bar of the bail causes the vibrator to lift the ribbon to the desired height for printing one color or the other.

In my resent invention, each of the up- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1922. 1919. Serial No. 311,027.

right arms 5 of the bail depends below the pivotal point 6 and the rear edge of this pend ent member is formed into a cam surface 11, at the lower end of which is provided a rearwardly-extending lug 12. A universal bar 13 of the usual construction is pivoted at 14 to the frame of the machine, and the side arms 15 of this universal bar are extended rearwardly to form levers 16 whose rear ends are benit slightly inwardly to form cars 17 which are so located as to lie near or rest upon the upper faces of the lugs 12 when the parts are at rest, as-shown in full lines in Fig.1.

\Vhen the universal bar is depressed by one of the key-levers in the usual manner, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l and in full lines in Fig. 2, the lug 17 impinges against the cam 11 and thus pulls the pendent ends of the bail arms forwardly, thereby swingmg the top bar 7 of the bail rearwardly to cause an action of the escapement as well as the ribbon-vibrator. The cam 11 is so shaped that the ribbon-vibrator receives full operation before the type reaches the platen, this being shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, in which the lug 17 is shown as having reached the end of the active part of the cam face. at which point the movement of the bail arms ceases, av complete operation of the vibrator having been accomplished, as stated. During the remaining part of the movement of the type-bar action, that is, during the time the parts move from the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 1 to the full-line position shown in Fig. 2, the movement of the lug 17 is an idle one, except that it serves to hold the bail and connected vibrator in writing position until the type-bar completes its movement. Vhen the key is released and the type action and universal bar are restored to normal by gravity and the usual spring (not shown), the lugs 17 fall to a position at rest on the lugs 12, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1.

It will be observed that I provide a very simple direct-acting device for translating, the'movement of the universal bar into a. complete operation of the ribbon-vibrator, irrespective of the speed of operation of the machine, thereby insuring against parti-colored or smeared writing.

It will be understood that the invention may be embodied in various forms of type- Writing ma hines,

that the latter part of the upward movement of the lugs is an idle or excess movement, the cam actlon having ceased by reason of the fact that the bail has been shifted far." enough to bring the vibrator to printing position. This idle or excess movement of the lugs 17 is necessary, obviously, by reason of the fact that a further movement of the universal bar is needed in order to permit the type-bar action to have a complete operation. I contemplate so shaping the cam surface 11 that thevibrator-operating bail will have been caused to make its complete stroke by the time the type-bar has traveled abouttwothirds of the distance from the type-bar rest to the platen, as that percentage of the distance will be ample to compensate for any lost-motion due to loose pivots or flexibility of the parts.

The nature and scope of the invention having been thus indicated and its preferred embodiment having been specifically described, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstanding rocking frame for operating a ribbon-vibrator, means pivotally supporting said frame to rock fore and aft of the machine, a universal bar, levers extending fore and aft of the machine supporting the universal bar, means pivotally f supporting said levers intermediate the ends thereof to-rock up and down, and direct excess-motion connections between the vrear ends of said levers and said frame for imparting a full movement in one direction to the frame during the initial portion of the movement of the universal bar in one direction and holding said frame stationary during the final portion of said movement of the universal bar and the initial portion of the return movement of the bar.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combi nation of an upstanding inverted U-shaped bail for actuating an escapement and ribbon vibrator, means pivotally supporting the depending side members of the bail to swing fore and aft of the machine, a universal bar, a pair of levers supporting the universal bar at their forward ends, means pivot-ally sup porting the levers intermediate their ends to rock up and down, direct cam connections between the rear ends of said levers and the sid members of the bail for rocking the bail rearwardly when .the universal barv is moved downward, and key-operated levers for operating type-bars adapted to move the universal bar downward when keys are depressed. 7 7 1 3. In" a ty-pewriting machine, the combi-i nation of an*upstanding'esca-pement and ribbon-vibrator actuating frame, means for I pivotally supporting the frame intermediate its upper and lower ends to rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, a universal bar frame extending fore and aft of the machine, means pivotally sup- 'porting said universal bar frame intermediateits ends to rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, said universal bar frame slidably' engaging the upstanding frame below the pivotal axis of the frame for rocking the upstanding frame fore and aft of the machine.

4:. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstanding escapementand ribbon-vibrator actuating frame, means'for pivot-ally supporting the frame intermediate its upper andlower ends to rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, a universal bar frame extending fore and aft of the machine,omeans pivotally supporting said, universal bar frame intermediate its endsto'rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, said universal bar frame having a cam connection at the rear of its pivotal axis with the lower portion of the upstanding frame for-moving the upper portion of the frame rearwardly during the; initial portion of the downward movement of the forward part of the universal bar frame and holding the same stationary until the final portion of thereturn movement of the universal bar frame, and key levers adapted to engage and movetheforward part of the universal bar frame downward when the keys are depressed.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstanding'escapement and ribbon-vibrator actuating frame, means for pivotally supporting the frame intermediate its upper and lower ends to rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, a universal bar frame extending fore and aft of the machine, means pivotally supporting said'universal bar frame intermediate its ends 'to'rock about an axis extending transversely of the machine, key levers adapted to engage and move the forward part of the universal bar; frame" downward when the keys are depressed, and means directly connecting the universal bar frame at pivoted at their lower ends, said lower ends of the arms beingprov-ided with pendentcams facing rearwardly, and a universal bar having a pair of arms extending rearwardly andprovided withlu'gs adapted to impinge against said cams when the universal bar is operated and thus swing the upper end of thebail rearwardly during the initial part of the movementof the universal bar, the

cams being so shaped as to permit a further idle movement of the lugs after the bail has been shifted, to operative position to thereby permit a completion of the movement of the type-bar action. i

In a typewriting'machine, the combination of an' upstanding ribbon vibr'ator actuating member, means pivotally supporting said member to swing fore and aft of the machine about a horizontal axis, a lever supported intermediate its ends on a horizontal pivot and extending fore and aft of the machine, a universal bar connected with said lever at one side of its pivot, and means forming a cam connection between said lever and the upstanding member at the opposite side of the iVot of the lever for shifting the upstanding member, said cam connection having a dwell therein for holding the upstanding member temporarily in its shifted position.

8. In a typewriting machine, the co bination of type bars, key levers operatively connected to actuate the type bars, a swinging member movable fore and aft of the machine for operatin a ribbon vibrator, a cam carried by saic member having active and dwell surfaces, a swinging universal bar operable by the key levers, an arm ri ridly connected with said universal bar a apted to ride over the active surface of said cam before a type bar reaches the printing point and ride over the dwell surface of said cam during the final movement of the type bar to the printing point.

9. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a ribbon vibrator, an upstanding rocking frame extending transversely of the machine, a pair of cams carried by said frame at opposite sides of the machine, a universal bar, a pair of arms rigidly connected with the universal bar at one end and having a sliding contact with said cams at their other ends, and means for supporting said bar and arms to rock about an axis ex tendin transversely of the machine.

10. n a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstanding pivotally supported bail for operating a ribbon vibrator, cams rigidly held to the side arms of said bail, a universal bar extending transversely of the machine, and a pair of rock arms movable with said bar extending fore and aft of the machine and cooperating with said cams to swing the bail fore and aft of the machine.

11. In a typewriting machine, the combination of type bars, key levers operatively connected to actuate the type bars, an upstanding pivotally supported bail for operating a ribbon vibrator, cams rigidly held to the side arms of the bail having active and dwell surfaces, a universal bar extending transversely of the machine and operable by the key levers, and a pair of rock arms movable with said bar extending fore and aft of the machine and having end portions cooperating with said cams to swin the bail fore and aft of the machine, said end portions'of the rock arms being adapted to ride over the active surfaces of the cams duringtheinitial movement of a type bar toward the printing point and ride overthe dwell surfaces of the cams during the final movement of the type bar to the printing point.

12. In a typewriting machine, the combination of type bars, key levers operatively connected to actuate the type bars, an upstanding bail having cam surfaces formed on the rear edges of its side arms, means for pivotally supporting the side arms of the bail above said cam surfaces, a universal bar underlying the key levers and operable thereby, levers supporting said universal bar at their forward ends and provided with lateral extensions at their rear ends engaging the cam surfaces on the bail, means for pivotally supporting said levers intermediate their ends, and ribbon vibrating means operable by said bail.

13. In a typewriting machine, the combination of type bars, key levers operatively connected to actuate the type bars, an upstanding bail having cam surfaces formed on the rear edges of Its side arms, means for pivotally supporting the side arms of the bail above said cam surfaces, a universal bar underlying the key levers and operable thereby, levers supporting said universal bar at their forward ends and provided with lateral extensions at their rear ends engaging the cam surfaces on the bail, means for pivotally supporting said levers intermediate their ends, ribbon vibrating means operable by said bail, and an escapement operating tappet mounted on the bail, the lateral extensions on the lovers cooperating with the cam surfaces on the bail arms to impart a full rearward movement to the bail before the universal bar is fully depressed and be fore a type bar reaches the printing point and having a subsequent idle movement.

14. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstanding rocking frame for actuating an, escapement and a ribbon vi brator, type bars, key levers operatively connected to actuate the type bars and fulcrumed at their rear ends, a universal bar underlying the key levers and depressible thereby, a pair of levers extending fore and aft of the machine supporting the universal bar at their forward ends, means for pivotally supporting said levers intermediate theirv ends, and means forming an up-and-down sliding connection between the rear ends of said levers and the rocking frame for rocking the frame fore and aft of the machine.

15. In a typewriting machine, the combination of an upstandmg rocking frame for actuating an escapelnent and a ribbon vipivotally supporting said levers intermedibrator, type bars, key levers operatively ate their ends, the rear ends or said'levers 10 7 connected to actuate the type bars and ful- .direetlyvaind loosely engaging a p irt of said erumed 'at their rear ends, a universal bar frame and'adapted to roclrthe fra'me fore 5 underlying the key levers and Clepressible and aft of the machine.

thereby,a pair of levers extending fore and This specification signed this 10th day of aft of the machine supporting the universal July, 1919. e 7 bar at their forward ends, and meansfor p i EDWIN L HAR MION 

